


From a long time ago

by noblet



Series: Yes I love- I mean I'd love to get to know you [2]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: M/M, Memory Loss, it's Newt/Herms if you squint I guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-17
Updated: 2014-08-17
Packaged: 2018-02-13 11:48:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2149641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noblet/pseuds/noblet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermann finds something from a long time ago.</p>
<p>(This is the second part to this series, so I strongly recommend reading part 1 first, otherwise this fic won't make much sense at all.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	From a long time ago

It's a week later when the doctors (finally) decided Hermann was fit to go back to his daily life, which was now packing away the things in the lab and getting ready to find a new job, and when Newt almost passes him on the way to the lunch hall without a single thought he does a double take so abrupt that his neck nearly snaps. He backtracks his way back to Hermann, barely slamming into him as he draws closer and closer. "Hermann!" He yells and waves his arms manically over his head although he couldn't see him. He says his name over and over again, giddly and childlike as he approaches on the man's right hand side. If Hermann didn't notice him before, he certainly did now. Hermann turns his head, with a scowl and... did his left eye just twitch? Newt noted the bags under his eyes, and the frown marks surrounding his mouth, something that only occured when he was under a lot of stress or pressure.

"Ah! Doctor..." Newt's heart sinks at the fact Hermann didn't remember his name, but it was starting to hurt a little less now, as he was given a week to think things over and over again.

"Geiszler", he decides to fill in the blank, and not leave him hanging. "Say, do you happen to be going back to the lab? We have to pack all of our shit up, you know."

"Yes, I am making my way there right now, in fact. I take it you are, too?"

"I guess so man, say, eaten breakfast yet?" Hermann shakes his head and smiles as Newt hands over an apple and two packs of crackers wrapped in cellophane, keeping a banana for himself.

"I can make you coffee in the lab", Newt adds as they walk together, keeping his pace short so Hermann can keep up.

=====

It takes them a bit longer than usual to get to the lab, since Newton, being the scientist he is, allowed himself to drop a few steps behind Hermann purely to see if he would remember the way back or not, thinking of it as a type of experiment. It vexed him a little, watching as Hermann would pause between two corridors to look back at Newt with a distressed look on his face. He would then catch up, and point in the correct direction with elucidative gestures.

Walking into the lab itself, however, was an entirely different concept. Spending most of his time in there really must've imprinted into his memory, as Hermann recognized the place immediately. The mathematician's face lit up, like the way a child's did when they were able to fit the final piece in a puzzle. Hermann makes his way as fast as he could to his side of the room, eyeballing the hazmat tape on the floor as his cane dodged the number of kaiju entrails laying about. Newt crosses his fingers behind his back, hoping he won't remember the original reason the tape was there in the first place, Hermann forcing him to stick it on the floor since his arm had been dislocated from slipping on a kaiju intestine placed a little too close to his chalkboards.

Newt lets out a breath of relief as Hermann asks, "What's that tape doing there? It's ludicrous."

He spits out a lie, "Erm. Safety protocolls issued by Marshall..." But by then Hermann's contently looking up at his chalkboard, not listening to a thing he had said.

=====

"Alriiiiiiiiiight", Newt walks into the lab thirty minutes later, boxes piled and stacked about in his arms, teetering and threatening to topple. Hermann looks up from his chalkboard over the rims of his glasses. "Packing!!", Newt chimed in a sing-song voice. "Ten boxes for you, Herms, ten boxes for me. Unless you'll need more. I can totally get more for you later, dude, although these did cost me a movie night with Tendo..." He makes his way to Hermann's side, head poking out from the wall of boxes so he can make eye contact. By the time he gets to the chalkboards, Hermann's already down from the ladder and accepts the boxes with a muttered "thank you".

=====

"Doctor Geiszler?" Hermann calls out after twenty minutes.

"Please ca-" Newt starts but decides against it. "Yeah? What is it?"

Hermann holds up a folded piece of paper in his hand. It's wrinkled, and there's coffee stains all over it, obviosly something from a long time ago.

"What's that?" Newt rinses the coat of dust on his hands under water and then saunters over to Hermann's desk.

Hermann hands him the paper, it makes a crinkling sound as he unfolds it. On the top, in Newt's handwriting, in red colored pencil, is the date, August 14th, 2015.

"Oh man..." Newt marvels to himself with a grin growing steadily on his face. It was the last letter he'd sent to Hermann before they'd switched to e-mail. He never would've expected Hermann to keep it after all these years.

"What is it?" Hermann inquires, snapping Newt out of his "trance".

"Oh" Newt remarks. "You don't remember? It's one of our letters? Total snail mail man." 

"Oh", Hermann stares in the space in front of him. He scrunches his eyebrows together in deep thought, only to give out a sigh of frustration. "I don't seem to remember."

"Well," Newt blows air out of his nose. "I kept all of your letters, I actually have them in a box over there", he points to his side of the lab. "Every single one. I read them sometimes when I'm bored. Do you maybe want to read them later? They might jog your memory."

"Really?" Hermann ponders the offer in his mind. "Alright, maybe later", he decides.

"Could we maybe uh," Newt holds his breath, threading his fingers with each other. "Could we look at them together?"

"Sure", Hermann answers without missing a beat. He smiles politely to Newton, who appears to be beaming.

Newt heads back to his side, his strides animated, as his mind bubbles. _Maybe this whole situation won't be so bad after all _, he thinks as he drops down on his knees next to a half packed bin.__

**Author's Note:**

> Don't forget to leave kudos! :)


End file.
